Eating disorders

Illnesses that are characterised by obsessions with body image and weight. Eating disorders are more common in young adolescent females, but they may also affect males.

In the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, patients, despite being extremely thin, perceive themselves as fat and starve themselves. Binge eating followed by self induced vomiting is one of the main conditions of bulimia, although in this disorder weight could be normal. The two conditions can sometimes occur together. In morbid obesity, there is a continuous desire to eat massive quantities of food.